Poinciana Gardens neighbors in Hobe Sound band together at first whiff of smoke

HOBE SOUND — There's no formal communications plan or homeowners group in Poinciana Gardens, but frequent wildfires in this wooded neighborhood west of U.S. 1 — three in the past year, alone — forge a sense of community at the first whiff of smoke.

Janice Bauer grew up in the house in the 5900 block of Southeast Circle Street where she's now raising two daughters. She arrived home about 12:15 Thursday and saw the start of what became a 100-acre wildfire — which was 100 percent contained by Friday morning, with no loss of life or property.

When the fire started, Bauer began baby-sitting children and pets from homes that were more directly in harm's way, neighbors living along nearby Pine Haven Avenue.

"We don't have any kind of phone tree in place," Bauer said. "But by the time I got here, everyone knew about (the fire). Everyone kicked into action to help one another."

Neighbors rushed to turn on each other's lawn sprinklers and wet down homes with garden hoses.

Bauer said her daughters, 4-year-old Mia and 3-year-old Isla, cheered every time a Department of Forestry helicopter lifted a huge bucket of water from a nearby pond.

Colleen Thomas lives next to that pond, in the 8700 block of Southeast Pine Haven Avenue. The wildfire burned right up to the rear yards of homes across the street, where she and neighbors turned on sprinklers and hosed water on houses where no one was home.

Thomas said these neighbors stick together.

"I've been here about three years and they have just been amazing," she said. "We have community parties. We watch each other's houses and we watch each other's kids."

Dan Wouters, Martin County Fire Rescue division chief, said there were wildfires at or near Poinciana Gardens May 7 and 18 of last year. They were smaller than Thursday's blaze and handled by his department.

Martin County firefighters were still on-scene Friday afternoon, lumbering down sandy two-track roads on tanker trucks to douse wind-driven flare-ups.

When the fires become large, the state Division of Forestry is called. Before Thursday, the last time they fought a wildfire at Poinciana Gardens was 2001, said Melissa Yunas, the division's wildfire mitigation specialist.

Forestry officials said the cause of Thursday's wildfire had not be determined by Friday.

"There's a nasty zone, from this time of year when it's dry until we get (summer) thunderstorms," said Justin Dillon, Forestry Division state wild lands firefighter from Stuart.

Before summer lightning strikes, Dillon said, most fires are caused by human activity — mowing equipment, hot vehicle exhausts and welding are just a few such activities.

"About everything you can think of that has a spark or flame to it can be a human cause," Dillon said.

The western edge of Poinciana Gardens abuts the Atlantic Ridge Preserve, a sprawling area of long-leaf pine and palmetto scrub. Bauer said the area is crisscrossed with trails used by all-terrain vehicles and off-road pickup trucks.

"There's miles of trails and places to get in and out of this scrub land," Bauer said. "It's like a big maze back there."

Yunas said there are wildfires every year in Hobe Sound.

"There are a lot of undeveloped parcels of land," she said.

The local ecology benefits when fire burns off heavy ground cover that stymies new vegetation, she said.

But controlled burns by the Division of Forestry are "not really an option" where homes are interspersed with wooded land. The division has heavy equipment that mulches heavy ground cover, but it's not as effective as deliberate fire, she said.